Fire's Shipp, Ritter named to MLS Homegrown team

Fire midfielders Harry Shipp and Chris Ritter were among 20 players named Wednesday to compete in Major League Soccer’s inaugural Homegrown Game on Aug. 4 in Portland.

The league’s homegrown stars will meet the Portland Timbers Under-23 team as part of MLS All-Star week festivities at 9 p.m.

Homegrown players will represent 12 MLS clubs, including Seattle defender DeAndrew Yedlin, who recently played with the U.S. team at the World Cup in Brazil.

Shipp, a candidate for MLS rookie of the year honors, has six goals and four assists through 15 games this season. He had a hat trick in the Fire’s 5-5 victory over New York last month. RItter, a Big Ten defensive player of the year while at Northwestern, has started five games for the Fire.

MLS clubs were asked to nominate players for the team from among players they’ve developed. Alfonso Mondelo, MLS Director of Player Programs, who will coach the Homegrown team.

Any homegrown player also selected to the Aug. 6 MLS All-Star game day roster will not play in the Homegrown Game.